A Love As Strong
by elfmaiden4legs
Summary: ****In the aftermath of the car accident a trip to the hospital ends slightly differently for Peter and Claire... inspired from a clip from the television soap!


**A Love As Strong**

When Peter came round the first thing he noticed – above his own grogginess and lethargy – was Claire. His neck ached, his head throbbed as though a thousand brass bands were competing against each other for space within his pounding cranium, in fact he hurt all over… but at that moment the only person who mattered to him was Claire.

"Claire…" He whispered as he edged closer towards her, flinching as he felt his taught muscles wrench and tear beneath his cool flesh, "Claire."

She finally stirred at his careful touch against her chin as Peter gently turned her blood stained face towards him. The young Detective grimaced immediately as he noticed her head wound for the first time.

"Hang on, I'll get some help." He assured her, bending down to retrieve his mobile phone which had fallen to the floor at the moment of impact and was now rattling about around his feet… the sudden movement caused his vision to blur however.

"It's alright." He gasped as he dialled in the number… "Hello… I need an ambulance." He explained to the call operator as he heard another voice. Her soft tone was like a breath of fresh air as he somehow managed to form coherent instructions… although when asked to do so there would be very little of this conversation which Peter would be able to remember later on.

**H&A.H&A.H&A.H&A.H&A**

Peter's head continued to throb painfully as the sound of the gurney being wheeled through the hospital's swinging double doors insulted his hearing. The paramedics had done their best to check him over at the scene, despite the young Detective's protests and his insistence that he was fine… now however he wasn't so sure.

"_Pulse 120, BP 110 over 8._" He heard them say.

Damn he felt dizzy…

"_What happened?_" Suddenly Flynn appeared beside them, and Peter, to his own surprise, found himself explaining with remarkable clarity what had happened.

"_Err…_" He had to pause and think for a second. "_Car accident… Claire was driving. She's hit her head pretty hard!_"

He felt suddenly sick…

"_I'm OK…_" He heard Claire protest.

"_And your name?_" Flynn asked.

…Peter Baker…

"_Oh come on!_" Claire scoffed.

"_Tell me your name._" Flynn instructed her.

Suddenly Peter's vision began to swim in and out of focus, and the room began to spin. He subtly grabbed hold of the gurney beside him to steady himself, although thankfully at that moment the small group which had gradually started to gather around them were too focused on Claire to initially notice.

"_Claire Brody._" Claire responded.

"_Do you know where you are?_" Flynn asked.

Actually Peter suddenly realised that he himself wasn't too sure about this anymore, and found himself having to think hard to try and recall.

"_Goldburn Hospital._" He heard Claire's response.

"_No, you're in Summer Bay._" He corrected her… as his own speech started to slur. His own head and neck hurt and ached so badly now that he just wanted to lie down, and he shook his head slightly in an attempt to clear his blurred vision… which only brought on another wave of dizziness.

"_What? Oh, no, of course we are._" She sighed.

"_Look we were talking about our training in Goldburn before the accident, maybe that's why she's mixed up…_" Peter tried explaining to Flynn, the young doctor's back to him as he checked on Claire's pupil response. As he turned back around to face the Detective however he noticed Peter suddenly sway and stumble, catching hold of his shoulder in order to try and steady him before he fell.

"_Hey Peter!_" Flynn frowned, "_What about you though? Have you been checked over?_"

"_I'm fine._" Peter smiled… knowing full well by now that he was not however, and wondering why it was that he continued to persist with this ridiculous charade.

"_Well you don't look fine._" Flynn explained, suddenly noticing how pale Peter had become. "_Sit down and I'll take a look at you… could somebody fetch a wheelchair please?_ He ordered, before, keeping one hand wrapped firmly around Peter's waist and back to steady him he turned back to Claire – who hadn't even appeared to have noticed in her own confused state.

"_You know that's a pretty nasty knock you've got here which is why you may be a bit confused… can we get a CT scan please and I want to keep her in overnight for observation._" He added, turning to a nurse.

"_Oh no no no…_"Claire protested.

Peter could suddenly feel himself becoming tired, and nauseous. His eyelids felt heavy and he found himself leaning further into Flynn for more support.

The Doctor seemed to notice this and he turned to look at him for a moment before turning back to Claire more urgently than before, as though realising that one patient had rather suddenly become two, and that time now seemed to be of the essence. He had to hurry in finishing treating Claire, without alarming her, so he could finally turn his attention's to Peter… and quickly.

"_Better safe than sorry…_" He told her. "_Can we offload her onto X-Ray please, and get her some sutures when she returns!_"

"_I just need to speak to Peter._" She explained.

"_Peter needs to stay here!_" Flynn unformed her, as they began to wheel her away.

Peter vaguely became aware of a familiar voice – Claire's voice, in his ear – asking him to do something, and he nodded, although the words were muffled and he couldn't hear a word that she was saying. He felt hot, breathless, his chest tight as another wave of dizziness overwhelmed him and he found it hurt him to and increasingly difficult to breathe. His nausea returned, and the room began to spin as his head felt as though it was finally about to explode with the pain… his legs turned to jelly, before everything went black.

"_Peter!_" Was the last thing he heard as Flynn called his name.

With this Peter collapsed into the young doctor. Flynn, fully aware of what was about to happen before Peter feinted, managed to catch him as he fell.

**H&A.H&A.H&A.H&A.H&A**

When Peter finally awoke his head was still aching, although the intense pounding had subsided somewhat, but he still felt slightly light-headed, and his stomach was doing summersaults.

He opened his eyes slowly at first to find himself lying down in bed, and, hearing familiar voices, turned to see Dan and Leah in conversation with Flynn in the open doorway to his dark hospital room.

He groaned as the action of turning his neck caused another wave of pain to surge through his head and down his back, and he struggled to focus as Flynn made his way towards him.

"Pete!" He heard Dan sigh in relief, and looked around slowly to see Leah too was smiling down at him.

"How are you feeling?" Flynn asked gently, shining a small torch into both of Peter's eyes as he did so, checking for his pupil response.

"Better." Peter nodded. "What happened?"

"You have a concussion… you've also fractured a couple of ribs, and you went into shock… you should have really let the paramedics check you out at the scene." Flynn explained.

"I know." The young Detective sighed.

"Then why didn't you?" Flynn asked.

"Claire." Peter responded. "Claire needed me."

Flynn smiled, and nodded in understanding. "Claire's fine." He explained. "We're keeping her in overnight for observation, but she should be fine to be discharged by tomorrow morning… I'd like to keep you in a little longer though, just to be on the safe side."

"Why?" Peter asked, his tone becoming slightly anxious.

"You had a nasty knock which went untreated for quite some time…" The young doctor gently explained, "but as I say it'll only be for a few days, just to be on the safe side."

Peter nodded in quiet acceptance, despite not quite believing Flynn's story, who, having checked on his vital signs and general condition seemed satisfied by his patient's condition – at least for the moment. "I'll be back to check on you a little later." He informed him, patting his friend reassuringly on the shoulder, before quickly adding, "and try not to move around too much… we have you on some pretty strong pain killers, although we've had to be pretty careful with the dosage due to your head injury, so you're likely to be pretty sore for a while yet I'm afraid!"

"I'll give you a few minutes." He smiled, turning to Dan and Leah.

Dan nodded.

"Thanks for everything Flynn." Leah responded, and, as the doctor left the room they both turned their attentions to Peter.

"You scared us!" Leah sighed.

"I know… I'm sorry!" Peter smiled.

"Pete, just promise me that you'll never do anything like that again!" Dan spoke, voice raspy with suppressed emotion before his wife suddenly cut in.

"Claire's been beside herself since she found out!" She informed him.

"If you ever need help of any kind in the future, you'll let someone know… promise me!" Dan instructed him.

"I promise." Peter smiled reassuringly at them both. "I promise!"

**END!**


End file.
